I've about had it...
 

Ok here we go...My protege was in the shop about a week ago because it was leaking oil and needed a new oil pan gasket...well go tthat replaced had to have new tires blah blah blah...well..now i think there is a blown head gasket b/c it is STILL LEAKING!!....Im tired of this car tearing up soo much....Im on the side of moving to domestics right now...maybe a caviler or intrepid...or SOMETHING....Ive never heard of domestics tearing up soo much....everyone talks about hondas and stuff being in shop and domestics like FORD fix or repair daily....Ive never seen domstics tear up as described like that....If this car messes up one more time...ITS GOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!

I worked as a mechanic for a short time, and 90% of the cars we had in all the time were domestics. They're junk, and trust me, getting one isn't going to solve your problem. Tires? That has absolutely nothing to do with what car you're driving, it's regular wear.

Here's a tip though, the better you take care of your car, the less problems you have. It doesn't matter what kind of car you have, if you take care of it, it will last forever and have few problems. If you got stuck with a lemon, then that sucks. Because face it, most of the work done on cars is still done by humans.....

about head gasket
 

Wait wait before you take your car to the mechanic.

Oil leaking thru the head gasket.

Usually the symptoms of a leaking head gasket is a cloud of smoke coming out of the exhaust because is the water leaking into the piston chamber.

Have you seen how the oil looks,

Ready for the next questions:

Does the oil look milky?

Milky oil is a sign of water and oil mixed.

Is there water in the radiator "dissapearing"?

If it is then, maybe and I said maybe water is leaking into the piston chambers or the cylinder head is cracked or maybe is just a leak in a rubber hose.

From my personal experience a bad cylinder head gasket leaks water or better say signs of over heating occur and water suddenly starts to dissapear.

BUT leaking oil, are you sure the mechanic said cylinde head gasket, the one between the block and the cylinder head or is it the valve cover gasket???

The valve cover gasket when they go bad leak a lot of oil. Double check... If it is the last is a piece of cake to change and is a 5 min fix.


Good luck

Thanks man , weve eliminated the head gasket my uncle works on cars for a living and he came and looked at it today and said it was something around my timing belts so im still lost its only leaking around one side ill try to take a pic tommorow to show b/c its FRESH were we found it this time...

you also have to keep in mind that your dad bought an old USED car witha lot of miles on it. There's no telling how that thing was taken care of. You can't write-off imports because your car is crapping on you. It's more than likely lack of proper maintaince on the previous owners' fault.

I bet if you had a 1991 Cavalier/corsica you'd be having MORE problems..if it was even running still.

I was wondering when i was going to hear from you...

i'll respond if I think I need to but you're probably just venting because you're frustrated right now.

No i wasnt being an @$$ when i said that , it was an honest statement

I've only owned one domestic, versus four imports... there's a reason for that :)

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of repair... or something like that. It's a lot cheaper to keep a car running well than it is to fix it after it craps out.

I found out taht it was the valve cover its leaking bad but were gonna get it fixed YAY!!!!

Ford=crap

Every company has a lemon. But some cars have proven themselves to be overall trustworthy and reliable. 323's and protege's have. I thought i'd try out a 4x4 recently and bought an 88 Jeep Cherokee two weeks ago. (chrysler product) anyway, i was driving down the road last night and it started to smoke, i got out and before i knew it, the whole car was engulfed in flames due to an electrical short from a crappy headlight switch. That my friend, is the standard of quality you can expect to find in most domestics, i'm just lucky i hadn't sold my protege yet !!!

I actually own several fords and despite the ones I pound relentlessly at the track I've had great luck with them. I've had more problems with my MSP than any car I've ever owned.

1985 ranger
1989 Ford Aerostar
1994 ford aerostar
1976 Mustang II
1967 Mustang GT
1994 Mustang GT vert.
2000 Contour SVT (supercharged)
1995 Dodge Dakota
1994 Chrysler LeBaron
1990 Taurus SHO
1999 Ford F-150
2003 Mazdaspeed protege
2003 Mazda Protege5
2004 Mazda 3S hatchback

these are cars that have been used as daily drivers. Some were sent to "track status" after a new daily driver was acquired. Out of all of these vehicles the MSP was the most problematic. The dodge was a piece and my least favorite. The P5 has the best car so far. Not one problem that hasn't been caused by me!

There's a reason that imports are known for quality.....stereotypes exsist for a reason.

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/twinturboz/catchtank.htm



Cool link about Mazda engine diagrams, add it to your favorites.

It is from Miata, but recall the BP05 is identical to the Mazda Protege LX almost (ALMOST) on everything related to engine components.

It is anyway cool to see how our "brothers" (or "sisters" to the more liberal type) Miata have there design.

gee there's a real educated statement. :tooth: Especially when you follow it praising Mazda...Take a wild guess who owns Mazda :dunce: